Football shoe

ABSTRACT

A sport boot includes a sole, an upper associated with the sole which extends substantially continuously to cover, in use, at least the instep, the sides of the foot and a back of the heel, and has an upper edge which defines an opening for insertion of the foot. The upper includes a rear insert which in use covers the back of the heel and is made of a foldable and/or yielding material to be folded towards an inside of the boot to enable insertion of the foot into the boot from the rear part of the boot. A front insert which in use covers the instep, is also made of a yielding material to bind the upper part of the foot uniformly without use of laces and loops and improving comfort and foot-to-ball sensitivity.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to footwear and more particularly toathletic shoes or boots, for use in full-team football or five- orseven-a-side football.

RELATED ART

Many types of football boot are known in the footwear sector.

A very comfortable and practical football boot model is described inEuropean patent EP-1621089B1 in the name of the present Applicant.

This boot is constituted by a sole and an upper which covers the sole.The upper is a single portion with elastically deformable areas whichcan envelop the instep of the foot and the sides thereof.

The upper is superiorly interrupted by an oval opening, where the footis inserted, which in use surrounds the ankle. This special constructioneliminates the need for laces and loops on the part of the upper abovethe instep, improving the sensitivity of the upper part of the foot onthe ball, as well as the comfort.

In order to increase the rigidity of the boot and avoid excessive yieldduring movement, a piece of stiffening material is included, applied tothe upper in the zone above and behind the heel. The stiffening materialindicated with reference numeral 18 in EP-1621089B1 is a non-elasticallydeformable material which, locally associated to the upper, preventselastic deformability thereof in the zones to which it is applied.

In order to insert the foot, the athlete has to open the oval apertureof the upper and push the foot inside. The elasticity of the upperallows sufficient dilation for the foot to slide in. This type offootwear can be improved.

If the deformable areas of the upper are made of a contained elasticitymaterial in order to limit expansion thereof in use and to improveadhesion thereof to the foot, the athlete may encounter difficulty ininserting the foot and a shoe horn may have to be used.

On the contrary, if the deformable areas of the upper are more elasticand yielding in order to enable an easier insertion, the foot is notbound sufficiently to enable good control of the footwear, and perfectadhesion is not achieved to the foot under any circumstance, and inparticular during a straight, lateral, oblique run, etc., as well askicking and jumping.

SUMMARY

An object of the present invention is to improve on the prior art.

A further object of the present invention is to obtain a shoe, e.g., anathletic shoe such as a football/soccer boot (or five- or seven-a-sidefootball) which is easier to don with respect to the known-type of shoeor boot.

A further object of the present invention is to obtain a football boot(or five- or seven-a-side football boot) which enables excellent controlof the boot and a perfect adhesion thereof to the foot in allcircumstances.

A boot for football or the like includes a sole, an upper associatedwith the sole which extends substantially continuously to cover, in use,at least the instep, the sides of the foot and a back of the heel, andhas an upper edge which defines an opening for insertion of the foot.The upper includes a rear insert which in use covers the back of theheel and is made of a foldable and/or yielding material to be foldedtowards an inside of the boot to enable insertion of the foot into theboot from the rear part of the boot. A front insert which in use coversthe instep, is also made of a yielding material to bind the upper partof the foot uniformly without use of laces and loops and improvingcomfort and foot-to-ball sensitivity.

A still further object of the present invention is to simplify and makemore economical the manufacture of a boot made in the described way.

These objects are attained with the realization of an upper made ofstretchable components and non-stretchable components.

In an aspect of the present invention, a football boot (or boot forfive- or seven-a-side football) is provided. The dependent claims relateto preferred and advantageous embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will more fullyemerge from the following sample description of a boot, together withthe accompanying figures of the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the boot of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a perspective external lateral view of the boot in FIG. 1 whencompletely assembled.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A football boot 30 according to the invention can be symmetrical orasymmetrical with respect to a vertical longitudinal plane and comprisesa sole 50 and an upper 40 superposed thereon.

In the full-team football version the sole 50 comprises a plurality ofstuds 52 of the type illustrated in FIG. 1.

In the five- or seven-a-side version, the sole 50 can have other formswith studs (not illustrated) suitable for the different requirements ofuse, or it can be completely free of studs.

The upper 40 is made of a substantially non-stretchable material, e.g.,natural or synthetic leather possibly coupled to a non-stretchablematerial layer, and comprises a front tongue 42 and flank portions 44.

The front tongue 42 and the flank portions 44 can be made in a singlepiece, or can be made of several parts joined together.

As shown in FIG. 2, the portions 44 join tapering on the heel and arejoined at the back by a strip 47 which surrounds the heel.

The tongue 42 is separated from the portions 44 by a front insert 60,formed by two substantially parallel segments 64 a, 64 b which extendfrom a common base 62. The front insert 60 is inserted in the upper 40around the tongue 42. For this purpose the upper 40 comprises emptysections 48 of about the same size as the segments 64 a, 64 b.

The shape of the front insert 60 with the segments 64 a, 64 b has theadvantage of adapting to and extending symmetrically around the foot,comfortably distributing the enveloping of the front part of the boot.

A rear insert 70 to cover the heel is located at the back of the upper40, which rear insert 70 can be made of a yielding and/or foldablematerial and is destined to be folded and deformed for the foot to beinserted in the boot from behind.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the rear insert 70 isfoldable towards the inside of the boot during insertion of the foot,though other embodiments are possible in which the rear insert 70 isfoldable towards the outside and/or can give to enable insertion of thefoot into the boot from behind.

The front insert 60 can also be made of a foldable and/or yieldingmaterial. The foldable and/or yielding material with which the inserts60 and 70 are made must, during use, maintain the elastic capacitythereof and must not be subject to variations due to climaticconditions.

For example, the material of the inserts is a thermoplastic materialdestined to maintain, during use, its elastic capacity and destined notto undergo variations due to climatic conditions.

The rear insert 70 is cap-shaped, with a main concave body 72terminating at the sides thereof with two pointed parts 74 a, 74 b andat the bottom thereof with a tail 76.

The body 72 and the tail 76 can be more or less rounded at the edgesthereof, to be better integrated in the upper 40.

The boot 30 is inferiorly closed by the sole 50, which anteriorly has araised edge 54 and two raised rear wings 56 a, 56 b which, afterassembly, cover and envelop the lower edge of the upper 40, guaranteeingexcellent grip. The wings 56 a, 56 b join at the back in the heel zoneby means of a tract 57 of a lower height, in such a way that the rearinsert 70 remains visible and is either not covered at all or onlymarginally covered.

With the boot assembled, the front insert 60 is arranged in the emptysections 48 and around the tongue 42, while the insert 72 is associatedat the back to the upper 40 to cover the heel.

The inserts 60, 70 can be integrated in the upper 40 by sewing, glue,hot-sealing, etc., or other joining means.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the inserts 60, 70 can eachbe singly, or both, made of an elastically yielding material tofacilitate insertion of the foot. The front insert 60, which in usecovers the instep, uniformly binds the upper part of the foot withoutrequiring use of laces and loops, thus improving the comfort andsensitivity on the ball.

Overall, after assembly, the upper edges of the portions 44, of the base62 and the body 72 define an opening 46 in the boot 30 having continuousedges, for the insertion of the foot.

The boot may be used as follows.

There are no laces to be tightened, but the rear insert 70 is folded andlowered towards the inside of the boot 30 to increase the size of theopening 46 and ease the insertion of the foot.

With the foot inserted, the rear insert 70 is pulled into position witha finger, for which operation a little tab (not illustrated) can beassociated with the insert 70, or the insert 70 can return elasticallyinto position.

The insertion of the foot is also facilitated by the dilation of thefront insert 60, which under the pushing action of the foot temporarilywidens the upper 40 at the front; and/or it is facilitated by thestretching of the heel zone, in the embodiment of the present inventionin which the rear insert 70 is also made of an elastically-deformablematerial.

To further facilitate the insertion of the foot without compromising thecomfort of the boot in use, the front insert 60 and/or the rear insert70 can have a structure which is entirely or partly a bellow or pleatedstructure, such as during the stage of insertion of the foot into theboot to widen and enable a temporary distancing of the tongue 42 fromthe portions 44.

Due to the new type of structure, with introduction of the foot from therear part, the football (or five- or seven-a-side) boot of the presentinvention can be easily donned, while the front part of the upper, beingless yielding, enables an excellent control of the boot and a perfectadhesion thereof to the foot in all circumstances.

Furthermore, the front part of the football (or five or seven-a-side)boot of the present invention uniformly binds the upper part of the footwithout requiring use of laces and loops, thus improving comfort andsensitivity of the foot on the ball.

The present invention, as herein conceived, is susceptible to numerousmodifications and variants, all of which fall within the ambit ofprotection of the following claims.

1. A boot comprising: a sole; an upper associated with the sole whichextends substantially continuously to cover, in use, at least one of aninstep and sides of a foot, and has an upper edge which defines anopening for insertion of the foot; the upper including a rear insertwhich in use covers the back of the heel, wherein the rear insert ismade of a foldable and/or yielding material for folding and/or deformingto enable insertion of the foot into the boot from a rear part of theboot.
 2. The boot according to claim 1, wherein said rear insert isfolds and/or deforms towards an inside of the boot to permit insertionof the foot into the boot from the rear part thereof.
 3. The bootaccording to claim 1, wherein a portion of upper which in use covers atleast one of the instep and the sides of the foot is made of asubstantially non-stretchable material.
 4. The boot according to claim3, wherein the portion of upper comprises a front insert which canelastically deform.
 5. The boot according to the claim 4, wherein saidfront insert comprises an edge portion of said opening and an extensionwhich extends into the upper above the instep.
 6. The boot according tothe claim 5, wherein the extension of said front insert comprises twotracts which are substantially parallel and distanced from one anotherand which are joined to said edge portion.
 7. The boot according toclaim 4, wherein said front insert is made of a thermoplastic materialto maintain an elastic capacity thereof in use and not to undergovariations due to climatic conditions.
 8. The boot according to claim 1,wherein the upper is made of natural or synthetic leather or of naturalor synthetic leather coupled to a substantially non-stretchablematerial.
 9. The boot according to claim 1, wherein the yieldingmaterial of the rear insert, which in use covers the back of the heel,is an elastically-deformable material.
 10. The boot according to claim1, wherein the rear insert, which in use covers the back of the heel,has a bellow or pleated structure to temporarily widen during insertionof the foot.
 11. The boot according to claim 4, wherein said frontinsert in a portion of the upper, covering in use at least the instep,has a bellow or pleated structure to temporarily widen during insertionof the foot.